2023 Natural Products Expo West Trends

Our team had such a fantastic experience attending this year’s Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim California! From tasting the newest and most innovative natural food products, learning from the top professionals in the industry, and interacting with energetic and enthusiastic companies, the entire show was a success from beginning to end. As leaders in the ERP space for the SMB food and beverage industry, we pride ourselves on staying up-to-date with the newly spotted and growing trends in the food space. Keep reading today’s blog to learn our team’s main takeaways from one of the largest food and beverage trade shows in the country and how you can educate yourself on these hot topics!

Increasing Innovation: An overall takeaway from the show that we were blown away by is how innovative and creative the natural products industry is becoming. From upcycling, plant-based products, and an overall focus on consumer health as well as environmental health, the products and ingredients are absolutely incredible and are truly changing the game in the market.

Becoming the Expert in your Area: To achieve success in such a competitive and evolving industry such as the natural products industry, companies are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about every single detail surrounding their sector. Spending copious amounts of time doing as much research as possible to become a true expert about your product and the ingredients is making the difference between who wins that shelf space and who does not. Demonstrating and being able to speak about all aspects of your company as well as being well-informed on the industry trends is setting these highly competitive brands apart from one another.

Gummies and Drinks for Health and Wellness: A product trend we recognized while attending the show was the sheer amount of health and wellness gummy products. From plant-based gummy candies, collagen gummies, and even creatine gummies, this appears to be a growing market and creative founders are finding inventive ways to continuously produce new, exciting features to gummies. This is definitely a product sector to keep an eye out on to find that vitamin or health benefit you have been looking for!

Health and wellness drinks were another product group we saw repeatedly at Expo West. Functional drinks that consumers can grab on the go and know that they are nourishing their bodies are becoming increasingly popular and are in high demand. A great statistic to demonstrate the growth of this market market is that sales in the functional food and beverage market increased 5.8% to equal $87.3B in 2022. With focuses on gut-health, anti-bloat drinks, and hydration drinks, consumers are reaching for multi-use beverage options that can take them from work to the gym and keep their bodies hydrated while still being healthy.

The Rise of Influencer Marketing: With the continuous rise and popularity of social media platforms, specifically TikTok and Instagram, influencer marketing is changing the game for the natural products industry. There is an entire section of influencers focused on health and wellness with audiences ranging from a more grassroots approach to millions of people waiting on every post or video. Influencing is changing as a whole, as consumers are looking for more relatability from the individuals they keep up with online, and this shift is the perfect opportunity for the natural products industry to go viral and gain popularity on social media.

International Products: As society begins to move out of the pandemic and travel is beginning to pick up with consumers feeling more comfortable and safe to travel abroad, international products are gaining popularity alongside the travel trends. Consumers are looking to expand their palettes and try international products because they are looking for that taste of travel even when they are not able to physically be present in a different country.

Increased Focus on Biodegradable Products: Modern day consumers are implementing more sustainable choices and processes into their daily lives, and this can be seen by the growth of biodegradable products. Product packaging is not excluded from these trends. With the shift away from plastics that take years to decompose and have harmful effects on the Earth, biodegradable packaging such as eco-friendly cardboard or comprised of 100% recycled materials are taking center stage. This market is only expected to grow as consumers are demanding eco-friendly options from the food they eat all the way to what the packaging is made of.

Sustainability: Sustainability has been a growing trend the past couple of years as consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious and are purchasing based on brands and products that match their own sustainability initiatives. Sustainability for consumers begins at the point of harvesting, processing, packaging, and discarding of the products, and brands that are diving into these techniques are booming. Organic, all-natural, eco-friendly, and upcycled products are terms that were heard repeatedly across the convention center.

In conclusion, we feel nothing but complete excitement about the future of the natural products industry as there are just a few of the amazing moves that are being noticed. The largest takeaway that we left Natural Products Expo West with was that companies are truly becoming well-rounded with health and wellness at the forefront, incredible tastes and flavors, and sustainable packaging and processing! We cannot wait to follow the innovative organizations and products from Expo West 2023, and look forward to what is in store for this industry.

Check out how here at Softengine we developed an ERP solution specific to the SMB food and beverage industry!